Scarred James Potter
by Foadar
Summary: Old story. Not good.


**Old story. Left up for posterity sake.**

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It happened in second year, that the course of young James Fleamont Potter's life was irrevocably altered. In another branch of the tree of time, the nascent Lord Voldemort might have decided he had yet to bide his time, but the attack on the Ministry of Magic on New Year's Eve, where a party was hosted to guide in the new year.

Normally, Fleamont Potter and his family never attended these parties, as they were quite formal, and, as mother and son had both said to him ''Quite stuffy'', but this year he could not refuse, as he had been personally invited by the Minister, who was an old schoolmate of both Potter Senior and his wife.

It is tragic then, that this was the exact moment the newly christened Death Eaters under the command of the rising Dark Lord Voldemort were chosen to make their first, brutal appearance, in an early attempt to catch the Ministry off-guard and secure it for their Lord. While ultimately unsuccessful due to timely intervention by Head Auror Alastor Moody, who drove of those threatening the Minister of Magic, Eugenia Jenkins, not all guests left the planned joyful occasion without harm. Fleamont Potter lost an eye to a dark curse that night, and barely survived, but it was young James Potter that was the worst off.

For he was spotted by a young Bellatrix Black, who sought revenge against the one that had corrupted the pure-blood heir of the House of Black, had poisoned him against his families' beliefs. James Potter was hit then with a powerful Cruciatus curse that left him twitching for weeks after it hit him, and never again was he truly the same. When he returned to Hogwarts soon after, he was far from the person he once was. The nascent group they would have dubbed the Marauders was more or less strangled in the cradle as James Potter withdrew into his studies and solitude.

When Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew discovered Remus Lupin was a werewolf, and swore to become Animagi to help him during his transformations, they did so away from the friend they once knew, who had begun truly excelling at his studies, but otherwise become a total hermit in the school. It was only Severus Snape that very rarely still earned the ire of one James Potter, and only when the young Slytherin insulted his parents. Only then, when those pivotal figures in his life, who had supported him in his darkest time, did traces of the old James Potter resurface. Naturally, it further earned him the ire of Lily Evans, a girl he had once so been enamored with. She sprung to the defense of her friend and firmly slapped Potter, never catching what had lead to Potter grabbing Severus by the lapels of his robe and threatening him in a low voice.

Of course, James had not told anyone what had happened during that fateful holiday. He had his pride. But after that moment in third year, he firmly knew he was at last over his crush on the fierce red-haired girl.

Instead, he focused solely on his studies. When he was asked why he had not joined the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, which was down a Chaser after his second year, and still looking for a half-decent replacement, he coolly stated :

''Flying is a fun pastime, but there are more important things in life then a game on broomsticks. Our exams are coming, and I intend to make my parents proud.''

These words quickly turned him from one of the most popular people in his house, into somewhat of a loner. Certainly when the Gryffindor team had one of its worst seasons in decades, James was blamed for its poor performance by people in his year, as he was remembered to be an excellent flyer, yet refused to join. Wasted talent, or an arrogant prick who was too good to fly for Gryffindor, he was called. The last was quietly encouraged by Lily Evans, who at this time still wished he would not do so much as look at her.

When he found out, he scathingly began referring to her as Mrs. Snape, whenever they were forced to talk. In truth, he had indeed at times stared at her, for it was his one vice in his new mantra. To stay out of trouble and keep his head down. That, his parents had encouraged him to do so, and he had taken it to heart. He loved his parents too much, and did not wish to see them hurt further because of his actions at Hogwarts.

In his fifth year, surprisingly, he was selected as Prefect for the Gryffindors, a position he took to with great excitement at first, until he noticed he had been paired with Evans. He had sighed, and talked with her civilly even as she berated him for his likely irresponsibility with his new task. It was not until the end of the year that her rose-tinted glasses in regards to Severus Snape were lifted, and began to see the true James.

In truth, James Potter quickly became known to be the most fair Prefect in the entire school, and was often called in even by nascent Slytherin Death Eaters ()because of his pure-blood heritage) to solve disputes and assign punishments where necessary. Even if somewhat dour and overly rigid, James' reputation improved again, as he melded into the background while studying for his O.W.L.s.

By the time he entered his sixth year, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew had mastered their new Animagus forms. When Snape began digging into Lupin's secret, and found out he was a werewolf, he was goaded by Sirius to investigate under the Whomping Willow, but was caught by Professor Dumbledore before he could enter, thus saving his life. It was also in this year that Lily Evans began to notice the more responsible James Potter, who had completely stopped giving her any attention at all after her tirade on the Hogwarts Express in Fifth Year.

In fact, were it not for their mandatory Prefect rounds together, they had rarely spoken a word to each other since Third Year. No longer did he refer to her as Mrs. Snape, a title she had resented even when she and Sev had still been friends. Even more so, she had not seen hide nor hair of him outside class aside from occasionally passing by, when he would at most nod solemnly. The Hogwarts Rumor Mill had not even produced much on him, not even a possible girlfriend. The only thing she did hear from her gossiping friends is that he often met up with a greying one-eyed man and a similarly aged woman, who, from what she could learn from Remus, Black and Pettigrew, were his parents. Potter had become a loner, and she, in her hate of him and his previous antics, had not even noticed. She felt like a fool and resolved to be nicer to him from that point on.

Many of the young women at Hogwarts had regarded the studious but incredibly handsome James Potter as a mystery they could crack, but none had succeeded. Never impolite, he had steadfastly told it was ''unsafe'' to be around him, and that he did not wish them harm, or was otherwise occupied, which in many cases, was a false excuse. It must be noted that all these girls were half-bloods or Muggle-borns, as no self-respecting pure-blood who called themselves such would approach a Potter, certainly not the grandson of a notorious blood-traitor. A few girls from less respected pureblood families had tried as well, but he would, if even more politely, shoot them down as well.

Because of this, by the end of his sixth year, he was thought to be gay by the rumour mill, and was mourned as such by the girls at Hogwarts. That he did not show his fellow males any similar attention, had, in the socially conservative Hogwarts, gone completely unnoticed.

It was no surprise, that at the beginning of his Seventh Year, he was named Head Boy along with Lily Evans. He took to this role with a certain natural dignity befit of a monarch, but remained otherwise a relatively unseen figure and always kept his temper in check, even when insulted during Prefect Meetings by Evan Rosier, one of Snape's friends who frequently called it a shame a creature such as Lily Evans was named Head Girl. Cool tempers prevailed only just, as he prevented Lily hexing Rosier by sending him and his counterpart, a witch by the name of Pyra Yaxley, out early to patrol whenever things threatened to boil over.

Later this year, Lily Evans officially became interested in James Potter after seeing him in action so many times, protecting the innocent and efficiently keeping order in the school, even keeping her own temper in check when it was about to fail. But Potter never made a move. She had asked her friends, Alice and Marlene, who had giggled after she had admitted she was interested in Potter.

''Oh, do not bother. Potter is a poof'' they had chorused.

Suffice to say, she did not believe that.

When she confronted Potter, and asked if he were gay, he simply shook his head.

''Why do you not ask me or another girl out then'' , she tried, still trying somewhat to mask her intentions.

He chuckled darkly.

''You ? I would not dare touch the future Mrs. Snape, I have no death wish. He is yours, and you are his. Any other girl can wait until after Hogwarts. We wizards and witches have a long life ahead of us. My mom and dad were sixty when I was born. I am in no hurry. Besides, we are here to study magic, not the opposite gender.''

She grew red at that.

''Snape is not my friend. His words made sure of that.''

Then she saw something few had seen in a long time. He smiled. A big, hearty smile graced his face as he burst into laughter.

''Keep saying that, Mrs. Snape. Now, please leave me alone before your future husband takes offense to our conversation and decides St Mungo's needs a new patient in their permanent ward.''

With that, he took long strides, and walked away quickly from the girl that had once held his heart so tightly.

All future attempts at conversation were stifled by a quickly departing James Potter. When Snape cornered James on Lily's strange behavior, and accused him of feeding her a love potion, he argued simply that he should take better care of his ''fiancee'' and swore on his magic he had done nothing to her. When the rumor mill picked that up, Lily Evans became stuck in the uncomfortable position of being watched for a bulging stomach or a ring on a finger, neither of which were ever provided by Severus Snape.

After that, begrudgingly, Snape and his friends left a truly changed Potter alone. He would occasionally still be called a blood-traitor by some select Slytherins for that year, but beyond that, settled truly into his role of Head Boy.

Near the end of their last year at Hogwarts, he was confronted in Hogsmeade, right as his parents arrived, for a final time, by Lily Evans, who had become desperate in her affections, with time running out and there being a very decent chance she would never see him again, due to their vastly differing social circles.

She kissed him, full on the lips, right in front of his parents, before asking in a tearful and fragile voice :

''Please ask me out, James. I have seen how much you have changed. Forgive me.''

But he pushed her away, greatly angered.

''You...No. Go before I do something I regret.'' he said in a dark and outright cruel voice, with malice in his eyes and a scowl on his face.

She began crying, and ran off.

His father had a curious but equally dark look on his face.

''Not exactly how I would have handled a pretty red-head kissing me, James Fleamont. That was outright rude and unbecoming of a Potter.''

He grinded his teeth, and said : ''That attempted seduction is unbecoming of a woman of her intelligence. Besides, I promised you not to date at Hogwarts. She has been rather unsubtle about her affections for months, and I needed to put an end to things before she got the wrong idea. I thought I had done that before. Apparently not. You'd think the Head Girl would know better. Besides, the Snape guy I mentioned in my letters has laid claim to her. I do not wish to tangle with a future Death Eater over a woman.''

His mother merely looked disappointed. '' I think you missed a great chance James. From what you told us before, Lily Evans is a nice girl.''

''And would paint a giant target on our backs. Dating a muggle-born would not be keeping my head down.''

His father sighed. ''We would not..disapprove, you know, if you dated her, even now. Some risks you must be willing to take.''

He merely shrugged.

And with that, the topic of Lily Evans was laid to rest. For the remainder of their Hogwarts period, she was noticeably frosty towards him, and he returned it with glee. She might have turned into a beautiful woman, with the most beautiful red hair and those amazing green eyes, but he knew who she truly belonged with. So, until he graduated, she remained to him, Mrs. Snape. Some of the prefects less in the know thought it a mark of their impending relationship, but those of their year knew better.

He was not surprised he was pranked at the end of their last year by Black, Lupin and Pettigrew, after they grew tired of his endlessly stiff and formal behavior. For that, his head was swollen to be thrice its usual size. Even his favorite teacher, McGonagall, took him aside and told him to lighten up, and live a little, and that she was somewhat disappointed in him, despite his accomplishments in the exams and in her class specifically.

At their Leaving Ceremony, he gave the honor of holding the speech to Evans, in their last conversation. He did not wish to draw needless attention to himself, which surprised even Snape, who later thanked him in letter for his reticence with Lily Evans

Years later, only one child would fit the prophesy made by Sybill Trelawney. James Potter was yet unmarried, and no child of his would be born at the end of July, 1980. He instead became a potioneer, stepping in the footsteps of his forefathers and an infamous bachelor who would only marry when his parents married him to a pure-blood witch near the end of their lifespans, in the hope they might see a grandson before they passed away.

They did. Harrison James Potter, son of James Fleamont Potter and Selena Selwyn, a woman twenty years his junior, was born in late 1999, three years before their passing. Lily Evans had long since died, a soon forgotten casualty of the First War after she had refused Snape a final time, for her perhaps a fatal mistake.

What could have been had the Potters not been attacked, none but the Unspeakables would ever know.

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(

Yeah I know this edition of Snape is a terrible character, he was meant to be. Same for James. He basically is trying to keep his family alive by no longer fraternizing with blood-traitors or anyone else that might be targeted, for that matter. Sirius is mentioned little, and will have probably been forced into line by his mother with dark magic, as to remain the heir, with the loss of James. While this is not necessarily Lily-bashing more so a coward James, I do think that defending dark-magic using Snape is entirely out of line for such an otherwise kind person, even one that is your friend. James does not wish to get cursed by Snape for gallivanting around with Lily, and as such, leaves her alone, even when she at last returns her affections as seen above. Lily would put a target on his family anyway. This Lily probably eventually got over her love for James, if it ever developed into such, but was killed by Snape when he was refused one time too many, probably to his regrets right after. Who knows. My writing is bad and more people need to write James paired with other people then Lily, preferably purebloods. This is just my attempt, and as said above, you are free to bomb it with criticism :)

)


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